Chocolate Mascarpone Tart with Pistachios in Olive Oil

This is one of the more involved and “restauranty” recipes in “The A.O.C. Cookbook.” You can make the tart dough and the mousse the day before serving – in fact, making the mascarpone mousse in advance so it can chill is a very good idea. The only tricky part of this recipe is making sure the mascarpone mousse is cold enough and the ganache is cool enough that they don’t melt each other when you put the tart together. Developed by pastry chef Christina Olufson, from “The A.O.C. Cookbook” by Suzanne Goin, makes one 11-inch tart.

Ingredients

1 extra-large egg yolk

1½ cups heavy cream

1½ cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

¼ cup granulated sugar

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 cup (6 ounces) finely chopped 36-percent milk chocolate

cup (3 1/3 ounces) finely chopped unsweetened or baking chocolate

½ cup whole milk

2 cups very cold Mascarpone Mousse (recipe follows), or more if needed

2 tablespoons crème fraîche

1 recipe Sweet Pistachios in Olive Oil (recipe follows)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk the egg yolk and ¼ cup cream together in a small bowl.

Sift the flour and cocoa powder together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Stir in the sugar and salt. Add the butter to the bowl all at once and paddle on medium speed for about 2 minutes, until you have a coarse meal. (Do not overmix or the butter and fl our will turn into one big lump.)

Gradually add the cream-and-yolk mixture, and mix on low speed until the dough just comes together. Transfer the dough to a large work surface and bring it together with your hands to incorporate completely. Shape the dough into a 1-inch-thick disk. Sprinkle a little flour over the dough, and roll it out to a ¼-inch-thick circle, flouring as necessary. Starting at one side, roll and wrap the dough around the rolling pin to pick it up.

Unroll the dough over an 11-inch tart pan. Gently fit the dough loosely into the pan, lifting the edges and pressing the dough into the corners with your fingers. To remove the excess dough, roll the rolling pin lightly over the top of the tart pan for a nice clean edge, or work your way around the edge pinching off any excess dough with your fingers.

Prick the bottom of the tart dough with a fork, and line it with a few opened and fanned-out coffee filters or a piece of parchment paper. Fill the lined tart shell with beans or pie weights, and bake 15 minutes, until set. Take the tart out of the oven, and carefully lift out the paper and beans. Return the tart to the oven and bake another 15 to 20 minutes, until the crust is firm to the touch. Allow crust to cool to room temperature.

While the tart shell is cooling, combine the finely chopped chocolates in a medium bowl. Heat ½ cup cream and the milk in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over high heat to scald it; it will just begin to bubble around the edges but don’t bring to a full boil. Immediately pour the hot cream mixture over the chocolate and let sit for 1 minute without touching it so that the chocolate melts. Whisk to combine completely and set aside to cool. This is the ganache.

When the tart shell has cooled completely, spread the chilled mascarpone mousse evenly across the bottom of the tart crust. (It should fill it to about two-thirds; add more mousse if necessary.) Freeze the tart for 30 minutes.

Pour the room-temperature chocolate ganache over the very cold mascarpone mousse, filling the remaining third of space. Chill the tart 1 hour, until the chocolate is set enough to cut.

Just before serving, place the remaining ¾ cup cream and the crème fraîche in a mixing bowl. Whip at medium-high speed with the whisk attachment until you have very soft peaks. (You could also whip by hand.)

Cut six slices from the tart and place them on six dessert plates. Stir the pistachios in olive oil before spooning 2 heaping tablespoons over and around each tart slice, allowing some pistachios to fall down the sides. Dollop with whipped crème fraîche.

Mascarpone Mousse

Makes about 3 cups.

Ingredients

¼-ounce package (heaping 2¼ teaspoons) Knox powdered gelatin

¾ cup sugar

2 extra-large eggs

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream

½ pound mascarpone

1½ teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Directions

Sprinkle the gelatin over ¼ cup cool water in a small saucepan and set aside.

Fasten a candy thermometer to a small stainless-steel saucepan, and add the sugar and ¼ cup water. Cook the sugar over medium heat, without stirring, for about 5 minutes, or until the thermometer reaches 115 degrees.

Remove the pan from the heat.

Meanwhile, whip the eggs at high speed in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment until they are pale and frothy, about 10 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed for thorough whipping.

Very slowly pour the hot sugar into the whipped eggs and continue whisking until the mixture is cool. (You can test the temperature by putting your hand on the bottom of the bowl.)

Add 2 tablespoons of cream to the bloomed gelatin and warm over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, for about 30 seconds, or until the gelatin dissolves completely. Turn off the heat and let the cream mixture cool to room temperature.

Meanwhile, whip the remaining ½ cup cream to soft peaks in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or whip by hand).

In a large bowl, stir together the mascarpone and the lemon juice. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the cooled gelatin mixture, the egg mixture, and finally the whipped cream. Cover and chill the mousse.

Sweet Pistachios in Olive Oil

Makes 1 cup

Ingredients

3 ounces shelled pistachios (about ¾ cup)

½ cup good, finishing- quality extra- virgin olive oil

1½ teaspoons sugar

½ teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

½ teaspoon finely grated orange zest

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Spread the pistachios on a baking sheet, and warm them in the oven for 3 to 5 minutes. This will help bring out their bright- green color. Do not toast them or brown them at all; if you do so, they will turn the sauce brown.

Remove the pistachios from the oven, and set aside until they are cool enough to touch. Roughly chop them, so the largest piece is no bigger than a pea. Discard any skins that have fallen loose.

Meanwhile, stir the olive oil, sugar, lemon juice, orange zest, and salt together in a medium bowl to dissolve the sugar. When the pistachios have cooled to room temperature, add them to the bowl, and stir to combine.